President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has congratulated the new Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga.
In a tweet, President Solih congratulated the Suga on his election as Japan’s new Prime Minister by the National Diet. The president expressed hope to working with Prime Minister Suga and his administration to further advance the already close friendship and excellent relations between Maldives and Japan.
Suga was elected as Prime Minister after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned from the position, citing poor health. Suga, a loyal aide to the outgoing prime minister Abe, won a landslide victory in a ruling party leadership election on September 14, paving the way for Japan's first change of leader in nearly eight years. Suga won 377 votes out of 534 votes cast, and 535 possible votes, in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) election by the party's members of parliament and representatives of its 47 local chapters.
Maldives and Japan established diplomatic relations on November 14, 1967. Over the past four decades, relations of friendship and understanding between the two countries have grown from strength to strength.